Twisted Metal
by divinedragon7
Summary: Pepper accidently damages the Iron Man suit. While its being repaired she becomes sick and the cure is in an abandoned Stark Lab. It’s not that simple though, they are being followed by friends and enemies alike. Tony x Pepper, fluff
1. Chapter 1

(A/N: Hello everyone, I decided to try my hand at writing some IMAA. Still trying to get the hang of the characters but hopefully you like this.)

Disclaimer: Who owns IMAA? Not me

Twisted Metal

Chapter 1: System Down

Pepper quietly moved through the lab, Rhodey and Tony had been working on something for most of the day but hadn't told her what. Now that they had both left though she was free to find out what it was for herself. Her first plan of checking the computers was crushed when she found out to get to anything interesting she needed a set of passwords she didn't have and couldn't hack it like her dads files.

Never one to give up though she went over to the communication station and smiled, Rhodey had left everything on an unlocked. She set in the chair with a Chester cat grin on her face. "Ok let's see what you've been up to."

Watching Rhodey use the controls for so long had taught her the basics and with growing confidence she jumped from program to program. Finding out what they had been working was pushed from her mind when she figured out how to listen in on phone calls using the systems communication arrays.

There was already a list of numbers in the computer and she recognized Tonys and Rhodeys. According to the program they were talking to each other and she couldn't resist listening in.

"Come on tony you have to do something about her."

"I know I know, it's just I don't want to hurt her feelings."

"Well you'll have to figure something out soon because she's making it hard to do anything. Always following you around and butting in."

"Yea but she's helped out a lot too."

"A couple of times but lately she's just been getting under foot."

_They can't be talking about me, can they? No, no way I'm always a help._

"Ok just meet me back at the lab and I'll take care of it." The connection between their phones ended.

"No way, are they going to kick me out of the group, they can't I mean me I know tony is Iron Man.  
Unless he really did make some ray that would erase my memories! Wait was that what they were working on? Oh no." She ran back over to the main computer and started hitting keys trying to guess at the passwords.

"Come on come on!" again and again the system refused to let her in. Then finally the screen changed but not in the way she wanted. A blue background appeared and streams of data flashed in front of her. "Oh that's not good."

A sound like grinding gears was coming from the computer now and smoke began to pour from the cooling vent. "No no no no. stop that!"

She hit the power button without result. When that didn't work she grabbed the power cord and tried to pull it out but only succeeded in getting an electric shock that knocked her backwards. "ow."

"Pepper what's going on?!" Rhodey and Tony stood at the entrance to the lab.

"I don't know! The computers gone crazy!"

Rhodey reached over and pulled the main power switch for the lab, they were plunged into darkness for a moment until red emergency lights flickered on. Tony walked over and helped pepper up. Rhodey looked at the smoke coming out of the computers. "Pepper, what did you touch?"

"Nothing, I mean ok yes I touched it but I didn't cause this!"

"Then who did?"

Tony stepped in between them. "Calm down guys."

"Calm down? Pepper just toasted everything!"

"We don't know that, give me a minute to check." Tony booted up the computer in a safe mode and scrolled through a few logs.

He turned back to them, he didn't look happy. "Pepper, you erased all the armor systems."

"But, no, don't you have them backed up?"

"Yes, but it'll take days to reinstall everything! On top of replacing the hardware you burned out! What were you doing?!"

"I'm sorry; I was just trying to see what you guys were doing." Then she frowned at them, "besides if I hadn't broken the computer you'd have already erased all my memories. And they're mine and I want to keep them!"

Tony had an utterly confused look on his face. Rhodey held his head, "what in the world are you talking about?"

"I overheard yours guys conversation. How I was just getting under foot now and you had to do something about me. I know all about your mind erasing ray you've been building to make me forget everything."

"How did you, you used the labs communications to listen in on our call didn't you!"

"Yes I did!"

Tony unscrewed a panel from the computer. "We were talking about Whitney. I already told you I didn't have any mind erase rays."

"Wait but, you mean, you didn't build one?"

"No Pepper we didn't."

"Opps, my bad. What can I do to help?"

"Just go sit over in a corner or something."

She did, after almost an hour of trying to help and getting told off again and again she finally just left. As she walked home she found a can on the ground and started kicking it, taking out her frustration. She knew she'd messed up bad but the thought that she might forget everything about Iron Man and Tony, well it just wasn't an option in her opinion.

* * *

That night she had a fitful sleep, waking up every half hour or so. Finally just before dawn she got up rubbing her face. She already knew the day was going to be horrible. A nice long hot shower seemed to be just the thing.

And it was, she was feeling better when she got out until she slipped and slammed her shoulder into the wall. Pepper was really glad her dad was away on a trip so he wouldn't come rushing in to see what the noise had been.

Things didn't improve much on her way to school, some crazy driver nearly ran her over and she banged her knee when she jumped out of the way. Then when she got to school pepper found out that Rhodey and Tony had apparently decided to skip for the day.

After just two classes Pepper was just too restless to stay any longer. She snuck out before third period vie a window in the janitors closet. As she walked to the lab she was still trying to think of a way to apologize for yesterdays little mess up. Then it hit her, if she was right Tony and Rhodey would have worked through the night.

Which meant they probably hadn't had much time for food so she took a little detour to a convinces store. When she got to the lab she was carry a tray of slushies and a bag of every type of junk food known to man.

It looked like she was right; they had parts spread out all over the floor. "Hey guys I brought food!"

Tony looked up for soldering a set of computer boards. "Pepper be careful-"

His warning came too late as she tripped over a thick power cord. The slushies went flying and landed on a small pile of parts, the pile gave a fizzling hiss as the blue liquid soaked them.

"I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry!" she looked over and saw both Rhodey and Tony had exasperated looks on their faces.

Tony picked up one of the parts as the slushie dripped from it. "Its fine, these parts were mostly ruined anyways"

They did stop working long enough to eat but then were right back to work. Pepper stayed around for awhile in the hopes that there would be something she could do that would help.

Tony was half in the computer housing on a rolling board "Pepper, could you get me the volt register?"

"Got it." She grabbed it off of the table and handed it to him. That was how the day went, but by the end she was starting to get annoyed that all they were letting her do was hand them parts.

Finally though Tony turned everything on and it didn't explode. Pepper clapped her hand together, "So you can use the suit again right?"

Tony frowned at her. "No, now we can reinstall all the systems which will take about three days."

"Oh, well that's not too bad."

"Not too bad? Pepper you gave every villain and crook in the city a four day free pass! Do you have any idea how much damage they can do in four days?!"

Rhodey put his hand on Tonys shoulder. "Calm down, I was the one who was flying off the handle earlier remember? Come on lets all go for a walk we've been cooped up in here for too long. Besides there's nothing more we can do for now."

"Fine." Tony walked out of the lab with Rhodey and pepper following.

They eventually ended up walking near a small trench next to the river. Finally the silence got to be to much for pepper. "Tony listen I."

He held up his hand to stop her. "Pepper, I don't want to hear it."

She zipped it and fell a few steps behind Tony. A few minutes later though his cell went off and he found ten new texts from Pepper. He turned back towards her. "Fine what is it?"

"Well I was trying to apologize but you told me you didn't want to hear it so I decided to text you instead then"

"Ok ok I get it."

As he was turning around to keep on walking Peppers vision suddenly blurred, "Tony?"

He looked back at her in time to see her lose her balance and slip into the Trench. "Pepper!"

He ran and slide down after her, she was laying at the bottom unconscious. "Pepper? Pepper!"

He gently checked her over; it looked like she had hit her head on the way down. She also had several cuts on her arms and a few bruises but otherwise seemed unharmed. As he finished checking her over she opened her eyes with a moan.

Tony put his hand on her back to help steady her. "Pepper are you ok?"

"Yea, what happened?"

"I don't know but you fell down here."

She looked up the steep slope. "That would explain it."

Tony wanted to take her back to the lab but someone had seen her fall and called 911 and they insisted on taking her to the hospital to get fully checked out. The paramedics loaded Pepper into the ambulance and as one of them started to close the doors Tony ducked in and sat next to her. "Hey, get out of there kid"

Tony looked him in the eye. "I'm going with her."

"You can't just jump in and expect a ride now out!"

Tony grabbed Peppers hand. "Why? There's no law saying I can't go with her, besides the longer you argue the more time you waist and have to spend with us."

"Fine you kids aren't worth the trouble." He slammed the doors closed. Rhodey had already gone back to his house to tell his mom tony had gone with Pepper while she got check out.

Two hours later Pepper was laying in a bed in the emergency room, Tony sat in a chair next to her. The nurses on duty had enough since not to ask him to leave, not that he would have. Finally a female doctor walked over to them looking over a clipboard. She gave Tony a distasteful look, "Well Miss Potts everything looks fine beyond some scratches and a few bruises. However we can keep you for the night if you would like, for observation purposes."

"No I'm fine."

"If you are sure." She gave another look at Tony. "I'll have a nurse come and get you in a minute."

Tony looked at Pepper, "Sure you're feeling alright."

"Yes, I just slipped that's all."

He was about to say he didn't believe her when a nurse came over with a wheelchair. Pepper looked at it then her, "I don't need that I can walk just fine."

"Sorry hospital policy, everyone has to leave in a wheelchair."

Pepper surprisingly didn't protest but she obviously wasn't happy either. Tony pushed the wheelchair to the front of the hospital but as soon as they were outside she jumped out of it and started walking, Tony left the wheelchair for the nurse and went to catch up with her.

As they left the doctor watched them, when the nurse returned she stopped her. "Who was that young man with Miss Potts?"

"I don't know, but I can look into it for you."

"Yes, thank you."

Tony and Pepper walked together for about a block in silence. "So your dads still away on his trip right?"

"Yea, he'll be gone another few days why?"

"Then why don't you come stay at the lab tonight?"

"Oh don't tell me you're still worried, I told you I just slipped."

"Fine don't come, I'll just spend all night worrying, not getting any work done with the Iron Man system. Probably lose hours of work."

Pepper stopped and pushed her finger into Tonys chest. "You're trying to use guilt aren't you?"

"Yea, so? You'd do the same thing."

"Oh yea, fine I'll come to the lab." Truth be told she was secretly happy he was worried about her. And he seemed to have forgiven her for the mess ups.

When they got back to the lab Rhodey was already there watching the system loading files, he saw them come in and jumped up. "Pepper, you ok?"

"Yes I'm fine. I just slipped."

"Pepper will be staying here tonight." Tony said as he checked on the progress of the system. When he looked away from the screen he saw Pepper was holding her head. "Is your head hurting?"

"A little"

"Why don't you go lay down in the infirmary for a bit?"

"Ok"

A few minutes later Tony went in to check on her and found her already asleep. He stood there for awhile just watching her, Tony was so engrossed in her that he didn't noticed Rhodey come up behind him. "Tony?"

He jumped and little and spun around. "Oh Rhodey its just you."

"Of course it me. Peppers asleep?"

"Yea."

"You know you should try it sometime, us normal people do it a lot."

"I will in awhile, you can go to bed I just want to make sure the next set of data starts loading without any problems."

"Ok I'll be back in awhile to make sure you really do go to sleep though."

"Yes mother." Tony said with a roll of his eyes.

* * *

A few hours later Rhodey went back to the lab, the main system was still loading but tony was nowhere to be seen. After a quick search he found him in the infirmary setting at its computer console. One look at him told Rhodey something wasn't right. "Tony?"

He looked up from the screen with a jerk. "Rhodey."

"What's wrong Tony?"

"Pepper, she really is sick."

"But the hospital said"

Tony slammed his hand down on the computer "They were wrong!"

Rhodey held up his hands defensively "What does she have?"

"It's a genetic disorder. It can go unnoticed for generation built when it does show up it attacks all the body's systems. Starting with the brain and nervous system."

"Can't you cure it?"

"No, this isn't my specialty. I can do incredible things with things with machines but nothing for something like this."

"Check the Stark mainframe, maybe they have something on it."

"I already did and they do. My dad was researching a cure for it along with a lot of other stuff. Obadiah closed the lab when he took over though. The good news is they did come up with a cure."

"Then no problem, wait for the Iron Man systems to finish, go get it and cure her."

"It's not that simple Rhodey, Pepper has maybe a week left. By the time the system is done it could be too late. I'm going tomorrow. I'll take the secondary suit system we were working on."

"You sure? We never got too far into it."

"Yea it's the only chance."

"Ok but then I'm coming too."

"No I need you to stay and watch Pepper for me."

"What are you talking about there's no way she's going to let you leave her behind. And you're not leaving me behind either. Got it?"

"Fine." Tony knew he wasn't going to win this argument, but that didn't mean he couldn't sneak off on his own later. They'd be mad but he wasn't going to put them in danger. The research facility he had to go to was pretty remote and the records showed the security system was still active.

(A/N: well there you have it, the first chapter, the next should be up in a few days barring any unforeseen issues. Let me know what you think. Oh yes and sorry for any spelling and grammar mistakes, word seems to be having trouble with it.)


	2. Running Diagnostics

(A/N: Sorry this chapter took so long to get out, I had trouble getting it the way I wanted. Hopefully everyone will agree it was worth the wait. Let me know what you think.)

Disclaimer: Nope not mine, I get nothing out of writing this but the joy of writing it and a few lovely reviews.

Twisted Metal

Chapter 2: Running Diagnostics

Pepper woke up to find Tony sleeping in a chair next to her with his head on the bed. She reached over a moved a few strands of hair from his face. Unfortunately for her he was a very light sleeper and stirred at her touch. She jerked her hand back suddenly blushing.

He looked at her with groggy eyes for a moment before they focused. "Pepper you're awake."

"Yea." She could read his face well enough to know something was wrong. "What's wrong, oh no did something happen to my dad? Is he ok?"

"No, I mean I don't know. He's probably fine but that's not the problem."

"Is the suit broken? Are super villains taking over the city?"

"No the suit and city are fine; everything's been pretty quiet actually."

"Is Rhodey hurt? Did he get hit by a bus?"

"Wait A bus? Why would you even think that?"

"Oh no, then it's you, your implant is going to go mega nuclear and take out the whole city isn't it?"

"No my implants fine, it's you."

"Me? Am I losing my voice?" She grabbed him by the shoulders and started shaking him violently. "Can you still hear me!"

Tony put his hands on her shoulders to stop her from shaking him to pieces. "Your voice is fine Pepper. You're, sick."

"I am? But I feel fine. Are you sure?"

"Yea I checked, but don't worry there's a cure."

"A cure, what exactly do I have?" She couldn't keep the fear from creeping into her voice.

"It's a genetic disorder; it runs in a few families. Normally it doesn't do much but when it does show up, it's bad."

"How bad, tony what's it going to do to me?"

"Nothing, I won't let it do anything to you. I promise." He unconsciously put his hand over hers.

"Ok, but if you didn't stop it what would it do?"

"It attacks the brain and nervous system, and ends in death."

"I'm going to die?"

"No! there's a cure in one of my dads old labs and I'm going to go get it, you'll be fine I promise."

Pepper looked down at the hand Tony wasn't holding, she just couldn't comprehend what he had said. Then she clinched her hand into a fist. "I'm coming with you."

"Wait you can't"

"Why? Would coming along make it any worse?"

"We'll no but."

"Then wouldn't it make more since for me to come along and be right there when you find the cure?"

"Listen Pepper, this isn't going to be some safe little walk down the street."

"So? Neither was dealing with Whiplash and Mr. Fix, besides I'm not going to let you go risk your life for me while I just sit around."

"You and Rhodey are impossible. But fine."

"Really? Wait why did you give in so easy?"

"Because you're right."

Pepper didn't believe that was the real reason but decided not to argue with him. She grabbed her phone and found a text from her father, quickly scrolling through it she found out her father was going to be home the next day.

Her dad coming back right then complicated things. If he found her missing he'd have the whole FBI out looking for them. She thought about it for a minute and came up with a plan. Going back into the main part of the lab she found Rhodey sitting at the communication station. He stopped what he was doing when he saw he. "Pepper, how are you feeling?"

"Fine, mind if I borrow the communications for a bit?"

"Sure." He handed her the head set. "Who are you calling?"

"Well my dads going to be coming back tomorrow but if I'm not there he'll freak out so I'm going to call him and pretend to be from the CIA and tell him we need to borrow his super spy daughter to help track down a totally evil guy."

Rhodey shook his head. "Pepper"

"What? You don't like it?"

"I never said that, I just don't think it'll work."

"What why?"

Tony walked up behind her and grabbed the headset. "You know it's not a bad idea."

"Ha see"

"Tony you aren't serious are you?"

"Sure why not? She does need a cover, but maybe something more believable." He sat down and brought up Mr. Potts phone number along with a voice alteration program.

There was a few moments silence before he answered. "Hello"

"Hello Mr. Potts, this is professor Morning from the Tomorrow Academy." Tony said, over the line though his voice sounded like that of an old school teacher.

There was a heavy sigh. "What did Pepper do this time?"

Pepper looked back and forth between Rhodey and Tony with her mouth open, "I, he, but"

Rhodey clamped his hand over her mouth "shh"

"Nothing Mr. Potts, actually we were hoping she would be able to help us. You see a member of our debate team will unfortunately not be able to accompany us. We want Pepper to come with us instead."

"Of course she can go if she wants to, but are you sure?"

"Oh yes, she has already out talked half the team. She just keeps going and going and going."

"She does, well if she want to she has my permission."

"Thank you very much." Tony ended the call and turned to Rhodey and pepper. Only to find Rhodey physically holding an angry Pepper back.

"I just keep going, and going! And GOING! Huh!?"

"Whoa just calm down Pepper." He put his hands up defensively in front of himself.

"Oh I'll calm down, after I finish with you!"

She started to struggle hard and Rhodey had to lift her up. "Tony run!"

He did, jumping from the chair and running through the lab. A moment later Pepper wiggled free and shot off after him. Rhodey watched her chase after Tony and he couldn't help but think that she seemed just fine. He decided to let them have some time alone and went into the infirmary to check the computer.

* * *

Tony thought he had finally managed to out run Pepper, but when he looked over his shoulder he saw her flying at him.

"Eaaa!" she tackled Tony to the ground, they each rolled a few times before stopping. Both lay panting for a few minutes catching their breaths.

Finally tony sat up. "Geez you're fast."

"Thanks, guess running for my life from murderous mobsters paid off. Listen tony thanks for everything you've done for me." Pepper put her arms around Tony and hugged him.

He was surprised but then hugged her back for several moments before they pulled apart. Pepper had a deep blush but Tony was dense enough not to notice and didn't read more into it then just a normal friend hug. "Come on Rhodey will probably be wondering where we've gone."

He held out his hand and helped her up. Pepper walked slower than he did trying to get her blush under control and avoid any questions from Rhodey. As it turned out Tony started talking as soon as they meet Rhodey. "Ok we'll be leaving in three hours. Meet me at the Stark airstrip hanger 41. I have a few things to take care of before we leave."

As he started to walk away Rhodey grabbed his shoulder. "I'll come too."

"No that's ok."

"But."

Pepper cut him off though. "Come on Rhodey he doesn't need you watching him _every_ minute."

Tony gave Pepper a thankful look before leaving the lab. When he was gone Rhodey gave Pepper a quizzical look. "You do realize he's probably planning to ditch us _for our own protection_ don't you?"

"Yup."

"And you're just going to let him go risk his life while you sit here nice and safe?"

"Nope, I slipped one of his trackers onto him." She held up the portable tracker.

"When did you do that?"

"When I hugged him." She didn't realize what she had said until after it was out of her mouth, a curse of her talkative nature.

"When did you guys hug?"

"No more questions! Come on let's go!" she switched the tracker on and lead the way after Tony.

Tony has just left the lab when he remembered that he and Gene had made plans to research the Makluan rings that day. _Better call and tell him I'll be busy._

He pulled out his cell and dialed Genes then waited for an answer. "Hello"

"Hey Gene, I know that we planned to do some research today but Peppers sick so I can't make it."

"Oh, I hope it's not serious."

"Actually it is, I'm heading out to one of my dads old labs to get the cure but it'll take a few days."

"I hope you find it then, give Potts my best."

"Ok, talk to you later."

* * *

Gene closed his phone. He had been speaking with his step father when Tony had called. Strangely enough he actually felt worried for the girl. Looking down into the ceil he was disturbed to see the older man had a smile on his face. "What are you so happy about?"

"Just enjoying watching you being made a fool. Do you think that girl just suddenly got sick? No, more likely he is going to retrieve the ring himself."

"You're wrong, we got the third ring together, why would he suddenly decide to go alone?"

"Because he suspects you, clearly you did something to raise their suspicions."

"Be quiet! I will not listen you rant on about such nonsense."

"Think whatever you like, but you could find out easily enough. Simple go with them, the girl is a friend it would be normal for you to show concern."

"Its frightens me that we had similar thoughts. I do plan to go with them but for my own reasons."

"Whatever you say oh great Mandrain."

* * *

Tony pulled a small pair of wire cutters from his pack and cut a space in the fence just large enough for him to sneak through. It had only been two hours since he left the lab and he was on a small secondary runway well away from hanger 41. He was confident that neither Rhodey nor Pepper had followed him.

He hurried towards a rundown building that was really a hidden hanger where one of the private Stark planes was kept. As he approached the building a side door opened and Whitney Stan walked out. "Alright Tony everything's set up just like you asked. Still don't plan to tell me what you're doing?"

"Sorry Whitney but I can't."

"Because you don't trust me?"

"What? No it could cause you a lot of trouble though if your dad finds out. And thank you."

She walked towards him until she was less than a foot away. "No thanks needed, just remember the deal."

"I will."

Whitney gave him a warm smile and walked back towards the main compound. Tony watched her go, then turned back to the building and found Rhodey and Pepper standing there with their arms crossed. "Gah, what are you two doing here?"

Rhodey raised an eyebrow. "So what was that about?"

"I had to ask Whitney for some help to get the plane, but seriously what are you guys doing here?"

"We're coming with you, or did you forget?"

"I mean how did you find me?"

"You know Stark you really aren't that hard to find." They turned to see Gene leaning against the building.

"Gene? What are you doing here?"

"You said Potts was sick and you guys were going to get the cure, it's only natural that I was concerned and decided to come along isn't it?"

"I guess so."

"Good then let's get going, I take it were taking a plane?"

"Stop!" Tony looked all of them in the eye for a moment. "This is going to be dangerous. The lab I'm going to was closed down but the security systems are still active, it's in a remote mountain range, and I have no idea what could be waiting there for me."

"Which is why we're all going too." The three of them had moved into a group and were standing between Tony and the building.

He looked around and finally gave in. They were wasting time and it was clear he wasn't going to be able to sneak away like he'd planned. "Fine, let's go."

The outside of the building looked neglected but like Tonys lab it was very advanced inside. When Pepper saw the private jet she ran towards it. "Oh please tell me we get to ride in it?"

"Yea we do."

Gene looked over it with a critical eye. "Impressive Stark, can you fly it?"

"Yes, but we'll be using an auto pilot me and my father made a few years ago."

The inside of the plane was pretty standard though surprisingly comfortable. Tony had already arranged it so that they took off during a short pause in the air traffic and slipped by without being noticed by most of the people working at the airstrip. "Well you guys might as well relax the flight will be about nine hours."

* * *

Several hours later and the plane was flying over a large ocean, the quarter moon the only light outside. Gene and Rhodey were both asleep. Tony had on a pair of goggles and was using a small cool tip welder to put a finishing touch on the secondary suit. When he was finished he put the glove and goggles back into his pack.

He clicked off his overhead light intending to grab a few hours sleep. But as he closed his eyes he became aware of a quick series of taps. He looked around; there were only two sources of light in the plane. From the moon light coming through the windows and from Peppers phone as she texted, which was the source of the tapping.

At first he tried to ignore it but several minutes later when there hadn't even been a pause he decided to go check on her. Tony went and sat in the seat next to her. "Hey what are you texting?"

"Oh nothing." She quickly slipped her phone into her pocket.

"You've spent well over ten minutes working on it, that's got to be a record even for you."

"Its, my will."

Tonys smile faded. "I already told you Pepper, I won't let anything happen to you."

"But what if something happens, like the cure isn't there?"

"Even if the cure isn't there their research is and I'll be able to make the cure for you."

"But what if you can't? Or what if Rhodey or Gene or you gets hurt?"

Tony put his arm around her shoulders in what he hopped was a reassuring way. "You'll be fine and so will we. We've fought advanced space armor and things I don't even know what to call, this'll be easy."

Pepper was quiet, first looking down then out the window. After awhile Tony felt her head on his shoulder and saw she had fallen asleep. He watched her for awhile, he remembered some line from when they had had to perform for drama about moonlight and beauty. It seemed to fit her at that moment.

He suddenly wished the trip was longer just so he could stay there with her, just like this, for a few more minutes. His face reddened when he realized what he'd been thinking, glad that no one else was awake to see them like that.

Eventually though he relucantly got up and went back to his own seat. The secondary system he had brought worked just like the armor but only the gloves and boots were built and the boots didn't even work yet. He was determined though to have them working by the time the plane landed. He hadn't been able to save either of his parents but he wouldn't let it be the same with his friends.

* * *

The landing strip came into view of the plane just as the sun was rising. The strip was a long lane of shockcreat set in a small valley between several high peaks. Heavily wooded forests covered everything besides the small clearing where the strip was.

Everyone stepped off of the plane to chilly morning air. Gene looked around getting his bearings, set off to one side of the strip were a set of buildings. "Well Stark this doesn't seem so dangerous, I don't even see a fence."

"That's because those aren't the lab, they're support buildings. The lab is up there." He pointed up towards the highest peak. Its top obscured by low gathering clouds. Pepper suppressed a shiver wishing she'd worn something warmer.

Rhodey gave a low whistle. "And how are we supposed to get up there? Walk?"

"Hopefully not, there should be a lift car just beyond those buildings."

As they headed towards the cluster of buildings Rhodey glanced back at the plane. "Should we just leave it out here?"

Tony looked back over shoulder. "Sure why not? There's no one here to steal it."

They found the lift cars easily enough. There were several of them waiting in line to be used. All hung on a series of thick wires that were strung up the mountain by a line of pylons. They held the cars above the tree line and insured a speedy trip. That is if everything was working.

A few experimental button pushes on the control console told them it wasn't working. While Tony climbed under it to try and find the problem Pepper leaned over towards Rhodey. "Want to go check out those buildings?"

"No, we should stay together."

"But"

"No buts."

She folded her arms and leaned back against the wall. Then as soon as she was sure that gene and Rhodey weren't watching her she ducked out the door and walked to the buildings. "Yes, super spy Pepper does it again."

A few minutes later the lights flickered on in the control booth for the lift cars. Tony slide out from under the controls. "Yes I am a genius."

"Ok genius." Gene said in a sarcastic tone. "Perhaps you can explain where Potts has gone?"

They all looked around and Rhodey sighed. "She must have gone to look at those buildings. I hope she didn't get lost."

"I didn't" Pepper poked her head back through the door. "And check out what I found!"

She walked in wearing an oversized green army jacket and holding a large backpack. Gene raised an eyebrow. "Isn't that technically stealing?"

"No, its borrowing. Besides everything here belongs to Stark International and since that's Tonys company it's his stuff. So it's just like I'm wearing Tonys clothes. I mean not that I would wear your clothes Tony because well I'm a girl and you're not but you probably already figured that out not that your clothes aren't nice and everything and they'd be better than going naked, not that there'd be any reason I'd be naked and needed to borrow your clothes it's just." In a rare moment of her life pepper decided it would be best to just shut up.

Gene rolled his eyes, Rhodey looked embarrassed for her and Tony just had that clueless smile of his. "Relax Pepper you can have the jacket. Now let's get going."

They all climbed into the lift car, it was the size of a small bus with seats lined up against the wall and wraparound windows. Rhodey looked up towards the mountain top where the cable line disappeared into the clouds. "How long will this ride take?"

"About twenty minutes so sit back and enjoy."

* * *

"Oh look at that!" Pepper said pointing down towards a deep fissure that crossed near the foot of the mountain. As they passed directly over it they could see that while it wasn't very wide it was almost a hundred feet deep.

They were all enjoying the ride when the car gave a violent shudder and stopped throwing all of them to the ground, Pepper laying across Tonys lap. She hurriedly got up ears burning with embarrassment. The car was now rocking slowly from side to side.

Tony opened one of the windows and leaned out; when he came back in he was holding a thick piece of vine. "The cables covered in this stuff, it's clogged up everything but I don't recognize the type."

Pepper leaned closer to the piece Tony held then jumped back. "Oh maybe it's some kind of space vine! And it's come to take over the world. What if it tries to eat us when were sleeping?"

Gene plucked one of the vines leafs. "Relax I know this vine. It's called Jukin, very evasive and strong, also incredible slow growing. For it to get this thick would have taken a decade, and I can't even imagine how long that would have taken."

He gestured out the window towards the forest. The others looked but couldn't see anything besides the forest, until they realized it wasn't the forest they were looking at but a thick layer of Jukin that had covered all the trees. There was a huge scare on the mountain where the vine had simply taken over everything.

After they had realized what they were seeing they could pick out the difference in color between the trees and the vines. It was Rhodey who broke the silence they had fallen into. "It's like the vines are using the bones of the forest to spread."

Pepper shot him a look, "Couldn't you have put that some other way?"

"Sorry I." He was interrupted by the sound of a whip crack. Tony spun towards the noise expecting to find Whiplash, instead he saw one of the cables that had been holding the car fall past the window.

Gene watched the cable fall towards the ground. "Our weight along with the vines must be too much, the cables are snapping."

Rhodey forced the door open; the nearest pylon was only teen feet away and covered in vines. "We'll have to jump for it."

He grabbed the pack pepper had found and jumped catching the vines as he fell. Gene Pepper and Tony followed all falling several feet before the managed to grasp onto the pylon. Tony watched the car sag another two feet. "Climb around to the other side!"

A moment later the last cable holding the car snapped and the car fell slamming into the pylon. The impact was enough to jar them, Peppers hand slipped from the vines and she started to fall. Tonys hand managed to shot out in time to grab her wrist. "Man Pepper you're heavy."

He swung her back so she could get another hold on the pylon, just as her hand found a new vine and grabbed it the one Tony had broken away and he tumbled backwards, past Pepper, towards the ground over two hundred feet below.

(A/N: There you go, hope you enjoyed, now feed me reviews. -evil laugh-)


	3. Multiple Errors Found

(A/N: Ok chapter three, enjoy and review.)

Disclaimer: still don't own it

Twisted Metal

Chapter 3: Multiple Errors Found

Pepper reached out and grabbed Tony's ankle as he slide past her. He slammed into the metal pylon but the vines cushioned the impact. She struggled to keep a hold on him. "Urh, you want to talk about someone being too heavy, it feels like you're wearing a tank."

Tony reached around and grabbed another vine, then swung around so he was right side up. "Thanks, that was to close."

Rhodey climbed down to Tony. "Not to interrupt but how about we get down before something else happens?"

The vines gave plenty of hand and foot holds but they had to be cautious. It took well over an hour for them to reach the ground and by then they were all nursing sore muscles. They didn't take any time to rest though, more of the vines covered the ground and they wanted to get out from around them as soon as they could.

The vines lay so thickly on the ground that walking through them was like trying to walk through thick snow. They were working their way up and away from the largest part of the vine forest but it was far more extensive than it had looked from the lift car. Because from up there they hadn't been able to see how much ground the vines had covered before they broke the forest canopy.

As they fought their way through the undergrowth they started to snag their feet and everyone except Gene ended up on the ground at least once. Finally though they came to the end of the vines, it had taken another three hours and even though it was still early in the afternoon the sun was already disappearing behind one of the peaks and the chill was creeping back into the air.

They kept on going though since there was no good spot to rest. As dusk settled though they found a small clearing where two large trees had fallen and opened up the ground to the night. Setting down they leaned against the larger of the two trees, all exhausted from the steep hike.

"So did anyone think to bring a tent?" Gene asked in a sarcastic voice that made it clear he didn't expect anyone to have done so.

"Well we might as well check Peppers pack, maybe there's something in here." Rhodey opened up the pack and started pulling things from it. One of the first things out was of all things, a silver bag with a tents picture on it. Rhodey gave Gene a superior look but he just rolled his eyes.

Also in the pack were several mechanical tools and a metal container. "So what do you guys think this is?"

Tony took the container and rolled it in his hands. "CF-18H-9957G. Must be something from the lab."

"Maybe it's some kind of food?" Pepper asked hopefully.

"Best not to chance it." He tossed it back to Rhodey and he put it in the pack.

"Hello, what's this?" Rhodey pulled a small disk from the bottom on the pack.

"Lets see." Tony pulled a miniature computer from his bag and slipped the CD in.

A fuzzy picture came on with a man wearing a white lab coat. "This is the final record. I feel as if we've betrayed Mr. Stark. Obadiah has had us researching using natural substances as weapons. We have decided to stop though; I only wish we had done so before. Most of us have already left. I am among the last. We've gathered what helpful projects we could. We will take the ORV's near the airstrip and head for the nearest city." The video ended with a crackle and the date showing it was several months old.

"Guess they weren't shut down, they quiet."

"I don't know." Gene had a thoughtful look. "It almost seemed like he was reading a script."

"Why would he be reading a script?"

Gene just shrugged. "Who knows?"

"Well why you two figure it out I'll set this up." Rhodey pulled the tent out of its bag and had it set up in just a few minutes.

While Rhodey set up the tent Gene started a small fire. When everything was ready Gene raised his eyebrow. "Isn't the tent a bit, shinny?"

It was true; the tents silver material reflected every little bit of light. Tony just gave him a smile. "It might be shinny but it's also very warm inside. I developed the material a couple years ago. You see the reflec-"

"Yea yea" Pepper interrupted, "but did anyone think to bring any food?"

They all looked around the small fire, it appeared no one had. Then Gene pulled something from his pocket and tossed it to her. She caught the object; it was one of those health bars with the dry fruit. "Where'd you get this? You never seemed like the health food type."

"I _borrowed_ them from the plane." He gave a side glance at Peppers jacket making it clear that he was poking fun at the incident earlier. Then he became serious. "So Stark are there any warning signs we should watch out for with Potts?"

Rhodey gave him a little shove. "Does the word sensitivity mean anything to you?"

"What? If there are signs we should all know them, Potts included."

"Relax Rhodey; he's right I should know them too." She turned to Tony.

"There are signs, hyperactivity, extreme talkivness, dizziness, randomly jumping from thought to thought."

Gene raised a questioning eyebrow. "You do realize you just described the way she normally is don't you?"

"I guess we just watch out for anything out of the ordinary then."

"Speaking of which how are you feeling?"

"Fine, the same as always, hungrier though, defiantly hungrier."

"Well we can't do much about the right now, come on we better turn in for the night so we can get going early tomorrow."

They all got up and climbed into the tent, and while it did fit all of them it was a tight fit and Pepper ended up between Gene and Tony. There was a small part of her that was ticked that she was just crammed in with them. Didn't they realize she was a girl? Not that she wanted them to treat her any differently but still a little consideration would have been nice.

She looked over at Gene; he was lying so still with his hands folded neatly on his chest that he almost looked dead.

Then she looked over at Tony, he was laying on his side with his back to her. She scooted a little closer to him until her shoulder was lightly resting against his back. If she ignored why they were all out there the whole trip was actually pretty fun.

At some point during the night Tony rolled on to his back. When Rhodey woke up he found pepper resting her head on Tony's chest and Tony with an arm around Peppers shoulder holding her close to him. Since Gene wasn't in the tent Rhodey figured he must already be up and went outside to check, pausing long enough to snap a picture of Tony and Pepper.

Outside Gene was sitting on a log poking at a fire he'd started to fight the morning chill. "Stark and Potts still clinging to each other?"

"Oh yea, got a nice picture of them though." He held up his phone and showed Gene.

Gene took out his own phone and showed Rhodey a similar picture. "So which one do you think will wake up first?"

"Who knows, but whichever one it is it should be entertaining."

As it turned out they didn't have to wait long. Just a few minutes later there was a muffled shrike of surprise from the tent and Pepper came running out with a blush the color of boiled lobster. It didn't stop with her face though; the blush went down her neck giving a nice off set to the green of her jacket. She froze when she saw the looks of Rhodey and Gene's faces. "The first one to say _anything_ dies."

They were both fairly sure she was exaggerating what she'd do but neither one wanted to test it.

Tony woke up with a long stretch, he was used to waking up with ideas for new inventions but this morning he had a strange feeling of contentment that he'd never had before. He was sure it must have been from a dream but he couldn't remember what it was.

When Tony stepped outside he found everyone else was already up and warming themselves around the fire. Rhodey could barely keep his composure. "So Tony, how'd you sleep last night?"

"Really well, I think I had a dream but I can't remember what it was about, it was defiantly good though."

Rhodey and Gene traded knowing glances and Pepper tried to hide her blush. It only took a few minutes to get the tent back in its bag and they were ready to go. The hiking was harder now as the land sloped more and more. They took several short breaks to try and keep their bearings which was becoming more difficult as they got closer to the gather cloud line.

It was right after one of those break, as they walked in ever decreasing sunlight that Pepper noticed Gene was eating something. "Ah you had food? You've been holding out on us?!"

"No I just picked these."

Rhodey grabbed one of the nuts Gene was holding. "You can't just go around eating things you find, what if they're poisons?"

"First off it's perfectly alright if you know what you're eating. These are complete safe." To prove his point he popped several more into his mouth.

Pepper and Tony each reached out and took a nut, they tasted surprisingly sweet. They decided to stop and pick some, partly as quick break but mostly because they were all starving. Rhodey Pepper and Tony all start picking the nuts off of the tree. Gene watched a minute then sighed. "You're all wasting too much time."

Rhodey was getting tired of Gene's superior attitude. "Oh and I suppose you have a better way?"

"Of course I do." He reached up and broke off a large branch with several dozen nuts on it.

Pepper reached up and tried to break off a huge branch as thick as her waist. But only ended up hanging from it. The three boys tried to hide their entertainment. Tony reached up and broke off a smaller one. "Why don't you try something a little smaller?"

Pepper took the branch Tony offered her and started to eat the nuts as they continued on their way. Their next pause came at a small field that appeared to have been cleared by a landslide a few years earlier. It was here that Gene started to feel uneasy, something was about to happen.

The feeling was coming from a portion of the forest layered heavily in shadows. His voice was calm but commanding. "Everyone, something's coming."

He held up his branch in a defensive position as several pairs of eyes reflected in the darkness. A pack of gray wolfs slowly stepped into the clearing, their fur was matted and their ribs were clearly visible. Unconsciously Tony stepped between them and Pepper. "Relax guys, there's never been a case of wolfs killing someone in North America."

"Tony, in case you've forgotten were not _in_ North America anymore!"

"Oh right." The wolfs prowled forward, heads down and ears back. They moved incredibly fast, getting in between the group and driving Tony Pepper and Rhodey into the forest.

* * *

Tony ran through the woods, he just needed a few seconds to grab the gloves from his pack and he'd be able to take care of the wolfs. Then he'd be able to find Pepper and Rhodey and help them. But judging from the sounds behind him stopping for even an instant would bring them down on him.

Three of the wolfs from the group were following Tony, though two had fallen back letting the first keep pace with him. Only one idea came to Tony, and it wasn't one of his better ones. He needed to time it right though because one way or another there wouldn't be a second time.

There was no point in waiting so Tony stopped and spun around, shrugging off his heavy pack bringing it around and slamming it into the side of the first wolfs head as it lunged at him.

The wolf had jumped, mouth ready to taste Tony when it saw him pause. The sudden force hitting its head had dazed it and sent it rolling several yards to the side. The other two wolfs paused, tony had looked like easy prey to them but now they weren't so sure.

Their confusion was all the time tony needed to put on one of the gloves and fire at the wolfs. It sent them reeling back and then they ran into the woods hoping that the rest of the pack had had better luck then they had.

He was about to head back to the clearing when he heard Pepper screaming from somewhere to his right.

* * *

Gene stayed in the clearing, holding his ground as the wolfs circled him. He waited a moment to insure that the others wouldn't be close enough to see him before he pulled out the makluan rings. "Sorry but I can't let you interfere."

In a split second he was covered in the black armor. None of the wolfs were particularly smart but one incredible stupid one actually bit his armor covered forearm. He looked down at the creature and almost felt sorry for it. There was flash of light as a ball of energy formed around him and spread out hurling the animals across the clearing. They stood on shaky legs and ran into the forest yipping with fright.

Gene slipped the rings back around his neck. He briefly wondered why he had held back and not simply killed the wolfs. He told himself it was just because the bodies would have been too hard to explain. Speaking of explaining he looked down at himself, if they were going to believe that he had fought the wolfs he needed to look it.

There was a small gully next to the clearing. He sighed, the lengths he had to go to keep suspicion off of himself. He rolled down into the gully receiving several light scratches and quite a bit of dirt and leafs.

* * *

Only one wolf had followed Rhodey but it was a very determined one, it wasn't content to just chase and wait for a chance. Instead it wanted to end things fast. With a burst of speed it leapt at Rhodey and sank its teeth in, they went down and rolled over each other a few times before the straps on the pack ripped and separated them. It gave the pack an experimental shake to make sure it wasn't something it could eat then dropped it and turned its attention back to Rhodey.

There was little in the way of weapons available to him and running wasn't an option anymore without the little protection the pack had offered. Fighting barehanded wasn't much of an option either; his best advantage was his brain, which right then wasn't giving him anything he could work with. Then off in the distance he heard Pepper screaming but he was too far away to do anything and he was doubtful he'd manage to get out of this alive.

The wolf began to approach him slowly backing him up against a tree. It was its rush though that saved Rhodey. More than half starved it wasn't paying attention to its surroundings or it might have noticed the figure that had appeared behind the tree.

As the wolf leapt again mouth open and nearly choked on a rock that suddenly slammed into its mouth breaking several teeth. In its surprise it twisted in mid air and crashed into the ground. It was quickly back on its feet looking for whatever had cost it the meal it had been moments from enjoying.

Gene stood beyond the tree another rock in hand. The wolf got ready for another try at a meal but more rocks hit it. Rhodey had caught onto Genes plan and grabbed several stones from the ground. The wolf would have kept trying though if it wasn't for a strangled howl. It gave a last lingering look at Rhodey and Gene before running off towards the noise.

"Thanks for the save. " Rhodeys look though showed he had mixed feeling about owing Gene.

Gene seemed to read his mind and put his hand on Rhodey back. "Relax, it's not like I'm going to have you kill someone to pay me back."

He had meant to sound friendly but it hadn't come off quiet right and Rhodey was really starting to worry about what Gene would ask him to do, and he was sure he would sooner or later.

* * *

Two of the predators were chasing Pepper but so far she had managed to keep a lead on them. Some part of her wondered what the record was for having to run for your life because she was sure she was getting close to it.

She wasn't sure how long she would be able to out run them though, then opportunity presented itself. A flattish boulder was just ahead; she ran up it and jumped towards a tree. Her out stretched hands just managed to grab onto a branch but as her full weight came down on it there was an alarming crack, luckily it held.

It felt like her arms were being pulled from her shoulders but she quickly scrambled up into a crouching position. Below the wolfs circled the tree waiting. "ok Pepper calm down and think, how do you get out of this?"

One of the wolfs, the smarter one, suddenly stopped and tilted its head as if listening to something before darting away. That left just one wolf for her to deal with. She looked around and found a good sized branch that had fallen some time ago and been caught just above her head.

She reached up and grabbed it, it had a good weight to it and she smiled as an idea came to her. The wolf was watching her and she gave it a smile, something it found disturbing coming from its food. "Ok Mr. big bad wolf, time to meet Little Red Riding Hood."

She winced, that had sounded so much cooler in her head. With a scream she jumped from the tree branch held above her head. It came crashing down on a very confused wolf stunning it. The wolf staggered a moment before slumping to the ground. "Sorry I was always more of a cat person."

There was a growl from behind her and the first wolf that had left revealed itself. It had simply been hiding, waiting for her to get down. "Uh, when I said I was always more of a cat person I didn't mean that I have anything against wolfs. In fact, I uh, think wolfs are like super cool."

It took a step towards her, teeth bared. Clearly not afraid of her stick. She raised it defensively in front of her preparing to fend off the predators attack. When it leapt she moved the branch like a baseball bat and managed to knock it away but it wasn't deterred and began to circle looking for another opening.

When the predator found its opening it attacked, mouth open, but it wasn't aiming at Pepper this time. It wanted the branch. Pepper wasn't expecting that and the force of the wolfs bite was enough to pulled the branch from her hands. It now looked at the defenseless Pepper and she swore she saw it smiling at her.

Before she could even turn to run it had her pinned to the ground. She could see right into its mouth, nothing but yellow and black teeth. Its breath was sickingly warm and smelled like spoiled meat. Its tongue slid out and lightly brushed along her cheek, slowly moving up her face. Some part of Pepper knew this wasn't how a normal wolf would act.

It moved its mouth down to her neck ready for the kill. Then a beam of light came from the trees and hit the wolf in its side knocking it off of her. She turned and saw Tony rushing towards her, glove raised ready to fire again. "Pepper are you ok?"

She jumped up and hugged him so hard he almost fell over. "Oh thank you thank you, I knew you'd show up!"

"Pepper, breath, need."

"Oh sorry." She let him go and he took a deep breath. The wolf he had hit had disappeared into the forest.

"Come on lets go find Rhodey and Gene." Tony lead in case any other wolf decided to try and jump them with Pepper following close behind.

"You ok Tony? You haven't recharged in awhile."

"Oh yea I'm fine. As long as I don't use full armor I can go a pretty long time without having to recharge."

"Phew that's good to know." It didn't take them long to find Rhodey and Gene, Tony quickly slipped the glove back into his pack before Gene could see. They didn't waste time with trading stories, which suited Tony and Gene just fine. Instead they started right back on their way up. Gene found a few long thin sticks and they each took one.

As night drew closer it became clear they'd have to camp out again, and they were all starting to get sick of the nuts. Another problem quickly became obvious when they stopped to make camp. When the wolf had bitten into Rhodey's pack it had ripped the tent beyond use.

"Well this won't do us any good." Rhodey threw it to the ground.

Gene picked it up and examined the fabric. "Maybe It will. There's enough intact of it that we should be able to make some large blankets from it. Not as good as a tent but better then freezing."

Luckily Tony had a pair of wire cutters in his pack and they each soon had a good sized silver blanket. They also built up a large fire and agreed that they should have someone on guard in case the wolfs came back, even though Tony was sure they wouldn't try anything again.

Pepper had volunteered to take the first watch and the night passed quietly. Between the blankets and the fire which they kept built up they had a relatively comfortable sleep. Tony had the last watch just as the sun was rising.

Gene of course was up early and was watching the fire as it died down. "Looks like you were right stark. They didn't come back."

Anything tony might have said back to him was cut off by Peppers screaming. "Gene! I'm going to kill you!"

They both turned to where Pepper had been sleeping near the fire, she was still there in her blanket, but now vines wound tightly around her. "You said these things wouldn't try to eat me! Ow, when I get out of here."

Tony and Gene rushed over to her, they could actually see the vines wiggling along her body. Tony knelt and started pulling the vines away. "Tony hurry, I think they're getting into my clothes."

While Tony ripped the vines away Gene brought the heel of his boot done on the thicker part splintering them. All the commotion had woken up Rhodey. "What's going on?"

"These perverted plants are trying to eat me!"

He quickly joined Tony ripping the vines from Pepper, soon they had enough gone for Tony to pull her out of the cocoon they had been forming. They fell back onto the ground. Rhodey tossed one of the vines into the forest. "Ok new rule, no sleeping near the vines."

Pepper walked over to Gene. He took a step back, there was something more threatening about her then the trials for the rings. He was saved though when Tony put a hand on her shoulder. "Pepper, calm down. There wasn't any reason to think the vines were anything more than just vines. Come on we're almost to the lab."

They were all more than ready to be done with the trip and walked in silence for most of the morning. Around noon though they reached the cloud line which was like a ceiling of fog just above their heads. As soon as they walked into it they knew they'd be blind.

Rhodey had an idea for that, there was still a good deal of fabric left over from the tent and he strung it all together to make a long rope that they each looped around their waist. They'd go up in single file, Gene Rhodey Pepper and Tony.

It was a good thing from their makeshift safety line because as soon as they were in the fog they all started to go in different direction. Gene seemed to have the best natural senses though which was why he was leading them.

There was about seven feet between each of them and as the fog worsened it became so they couldn't even see one another. At one point Pepper slipped on some damp stone and Tony nearly stepped on her as he came out of the fog. "Sorry, you ok?"

"Yea just slipped." She accepted his hand as he helped her up. Then her head shot up, something wasn't right. She grabbed the rope that should have connected her to Rhodey, except it wasn't connected to anything. "Tony?"

She held up the severed end for him to see. He looked it over quickly, there was a distinct cut and several burned threads still attached to the end. "It was cut."

"But why? And who? I thought we were the only ones out here?"

"We should have been. How long ago was the last time you saw Rhodey?"

"I don't know, awhile."

So there they stood, separated from Rhodey and Gene. Someone had cut the rope and deliberately separated them from the other. They could be just feet away and Tony and Pepper wouldn't even be able to see them. And what if they had already got Gene and Rhodey?

(A/N: Hope you liked that, let me know what you think, see you all next chapter.)


	4. Can’t not locate file

(A/N: sorry this took so long to get out. I wanted to have it up last weekend but a big exam in class and writers block delayed me. Still not completely happy with it but I don't want to make you guys wait any longer and its still pretty good.)

Disclaimer: still not mine, which is probably a good thing.

Twisted Metal

Chapter four: Can't not locate file.

Pepper and Tony stood in the fog, straining their senses for any sign of someone lurking in the fog. But everything beyond a few feet merged into uniform gray shadows and any sounds there might have been were twisted into a shallow moan.

Tony slipped on the glove in case something should suddenly materialize from the surrounding haze. "Come on, we better keep moving."

Pepper slipped her hand into his as they started walking. "So we don't get separated, the rope might break, or get cut again."

"Good idea."

They walked on in a general uphill direction for awhile without any noticeable change in their surroundings. Occasionally a tree emerged from the dense gray mass they were walking in but it was hard to tell if they were making any kind of headway. If it hadn't been for a watch Tony had built into the glove for some reason it was doubtful they would have even had a sense of time.

As they moved on they also moved closer together until they arms were touching. Then the fog began to clear and they thought their luck might have finally changed. That is until the rain started. It was only a drizzle at first but quickly turned into a down pour.

To escape the rain they hide under a large tree with thick foliage that kept most of the water off of them. As the rain continued the remaining fog slowly dissipated and they could see the forest had thinned out considerably given way to more rocky terrain.

Unfortunately along with the rain came the wind and soon they were both shivering. Even Peppers jacket couldn't do much to fend off the damp air. In fact the only part of her that was warm was her hand, which was still held in Tonys.

"Come on don't you have something in your pack that'll keep us warm? An electric fire place or something."

"How would I even fit a fire place in there?"

"You fit the armor in to it."

"Good point." He opened his pack and looked through its contents. It was mostly just mechanical things but he did find one of the blankets they had made from the tent. He tossed it to Pepper and she wrapped it around herself.

The change was immediate as the blanket held in her warmth and blocked the wind. Then she saw that Tony was still exposed to the cold. Pepper pressed her lips together. "Tony come here."

"Huh? Why?"

"Because I don't want you to freeze." She opened the blanket hoping he'd get the idea.

"That's ok; it's really not big enough for both of us."

Pepper thought of more augments but she was tired and didn't want to bother with them, so she just dropped the cover on the ground. "Fine, then we'll both freeze."

"Pepper! What are you doing?"

"Either both of us or neither."

"Fine you win." Tony knew sitting out in the cold wind wouldn't help her in any way.

Pepper gave Tony her _I won_ smile then picked up the blanket. Tony had been right, it really wasn't big enough to completely cover them but if they leaned against the tree they were relatively warm though it was an extremely tight fit.

She drifted off to sleep at some point and when she woke up it was incredibly dark out. The rain was still falling though; cascading off the tree tops making little waterfalls all around them. Pepper looked over at Tony expecting to find him sleeping; instead he was wide awake wearing a weary look. It was clear he hadn't slept yet.

"What time is it?"

He looked at the clock he'd installed in the glove. "About one ten."

"How come you're still awake then?"

"Because, someone is out there. I don't want to take a chance that they'll attack while we both sleep."

"Then I'll keep watch for a bit."

"That's ok, you need your rest."

Pepper was seriously tempted to hit him for his stupidity. "Well so do you. What if something does happen and you're too tired to do anything?"

"Pepper, I'll be fine."

She knew she wasn't going to win this time so instead she resolved herself to stay awake with him. Despite this by three she had nodded off and laid her head on Tonys shoulder. By four even Tony had given into his exhaustion and rested his head against hers.

* * *

Gene paused and looked around; the fog had closed in to the point that he could only see a foot or so in any direction. He took a step to the side just as Rhodey stepped out of the fog and he put a hand on his shoulder.

"Ah! Gene don't do that!"

Gene just rolled his eyes. "It's too dangerous to keep going like this; we need to find some place to wait this out."

"Fine, wait where are Tony and Pepper?"

"They were tired to you." Gene grabbed the rope and gave it a little tug. The severed end sailed into their little pocket of sight. He gave it a quick looked then spun and faced the fog. "That line was cut."

They moved until they were back to back giving them the largest view of the surrounding area. Which because of the fog was far smaller than either of them would have liked. Rhodey listened but couldn't hear anything. "Who do you think did it? And who are they after?"

"That's what doesn't make since. If they were after me they would have cut the rope connecting us. If it were Stark they wanted they would have cut it between him and Potts. I can only think of two reasons for cutting the rope like this. They either wanted to divide us for some reason or their goal was both of them."

"Gene, I just thought of a third. What if their targets are us?"

"Hm possibly, but who would want you?"

"Hey I have enemies, well a few, maybe. So how do we find Tony and Pepper?"

"First we find some place to wait out the storm, and then we go look for them."

"But what if something happens to them!"

"If we walk off a cliff we won't be of much help. Besides I'm sure they'll find some nice spot and cuddle together for the night." Despite what he said Gene found himself generally worried about them and contemplated searching for them with the Makluan rings. But that would reveal that he was the Mandrain and he didn't think they'd approve of the reputation he'd made for himself.

He did resolve though that if they hadn't found them by noon tomorrow he'd risk it. After all if he slipped away from Rhodey and did a quick search, and if he was careful then they probably wouldn't even make the connection.

He and Rhodey moved cautiously, senses alert for anything out of place. Nothing seemed to stir within the fog but they were both tense, ready to run or fight if a threat appeared. None did though and less than an hour later they had found a small cave. The fog penetrated it about a foot then promptly stopped.

There was no chance of starting a fire and they both wrapped themselves in their blankets. The fog dissipated into a rain and Rhodey and Gene both silently worried about Tony and Pepper.

* * *

Pepper felt something tickling her nose, she cracked open an eye expecting to see some bug. Instead she saw small green leafs. Momentary confusion gave way to panic as she saw that everything around them was cover in the thin bright green vines.

They hung from the tree like sleeping snakes and covered the ground like thread bear carpeting. The gray light that came just before the dawn told her they couldn't have been asleep for more than a few hours. Yet in that short time the rain had cleared and the vines had covered everything for several yards around the tree.

The worst part though was that she could see them moving, slowly curling around themselves. A thin vine touched the silvery blanket and started to climb it. Pepper knew soon they'd all be covering them but some primal sense told her if they she or Tony made any sudden moves the vines would attack.

She gently nudged tony and whispered. "Tony, wake up."

Nothing, she did it again and he shifted. "ngu, not now."

"Fine, you asked for this. Tony I set the armor on fire!"

"You what?!" he shot up but Pepper clamped a hand over his mouth and held him still. His eyes showed his confusion for a moment before they took in their surroundings.

When Tony had woken up the vines had felt his movement and stopped their twisting; now they began to climb the blanket again. One dropped down from a branch above and started to move through her hair. Pepper tried not to scream, she really did but when the vine started to tickle her ear.

"AH!" she jumped up and several thicker vines whipped around and grabbed her arms. They started to pull her up into the tree.

Tony shot a beam above Peppers head severing the vines and caught her as she fell with his free arm. The smaller vine start to move now trying to grab their feet but Tony and Pepper ran, crushing them as they went. They didn't stop running until they were well away from the vines.

They both collapsed panting onto the hard ground. "Thanks for the save Tony."

"No problem, guess the plants around here really like you."

"To bad because I don't like them, creepy little things. Can we just get going?"

"Ok." They got up and resumed the trek up to the research facility.

* * *

Just after sunrise Gene and Rhodey were on the move again. With the fog gone Gene was quickly able to find a well worn dirt road that they followed. The rain had washed away any tracks that might have been on it but in the mud along the side there were the distinctive tracks of wolfs.

The tracks cut across the road and went higher into the mountain. They were well above the tree line now but large rocks ripped from the ground littered the area and reduced sight to twenty or thirty feet. There were also ditches criss-crossing the area and the road had several bridges built on it over the large ones.

It was around mid morning when they caught sight of the research facility. It was only two stories high and painted so it blended into the surrounding rocks. Even the windows were tinted somehow so they didn't reflect light.

It took almost an hour of walking before they reached the last bridge before the building. Gene was about to step onto it when Rhodey grabbed him by the arm and pulled him back. "Wait, Tony said the security system was still on. We need to be careful or we'll get blasted."

Gene didn't think there was much chance of that but decided to humor him. "Fine, lead on then."

Rhodey walked across the bridge carefully watching where he put his foot. Just as they reached the end he looked up at the corner of the building and saw a figure dart behind a wall. He stuck out his arm to stop Gene, right then they were covered by a large pillar but if they went a few more feet they'd be in the open.

"Hold it, someone's up there."

"Are you sure?"

"Yea. I defiantly say someone duck behind the side of the building."

"Alright then." Gene crouched down and pulled open a small hatch Rhodey hadn't even seen. He climbed down and Rhodey followed. Below the bridge was a small platform built part way down the foundation. They stepped onto the metal grill floor and looked around. For a moment Rhodey wondered if they'd trapped themselves there but there was a door.

It was flush against the concrete wall and was made of a dulled metal so it was almost completely blended with the surrounding walls. When Rhodey pushed against it though it popped open with ease. The inside should have been pitch black but it was surprisingly bright thanks to several small half globs built into the wall. Gene walked over and examined one. "It looks like they reflect the light from outside."

The corridor was straight with no turns and lead to a ladder that went up quite a ways. It ended with a submarine style hatch at the top. Gene put his foot on the ladder but Rhodey stopped him. "Let me go first."

"Be my guest." He stepped aside and Rhodey began climbing. At the top he turned the wheel and slowly opened the hatch, when it was about a quarter of the way open someone grabbed it from the outside and yanked it open. Rhodey was blinded by the light and blinked to find a laser being charged next to his head.

* * *

Tony and Pepper had left the last of the trees behind them, but their going wasn't any faster because they had to avoid the ever increasing number of chasms the riddled the side of the mountain. The footing was treacherous with lose dirt and more than once they came close to falling into a deep crevasse.

Pepper was the first to see it. "Look!" she pointed excitedly at a bridge that spanned a large crack in the earth farther up the mountain. "Come on there must be a road up there we can follow to the lab."

Before they could reached the bridge though they both heard a low threatening growl from behind them. Several of the wolfs from the day before were slowly making their way up behind them. Tony raised the glove and a few of them paused but one kept coming. He planned to shoot a warning shot at the creature but the glove only glowed then gave a hiss and went dark. "Oh that's not good."

The wolfs seemed to sense the change and they all moved forward. Tony glanced behind them; there was a shallow ravine with more of the vines at the bottom. It was a hard choice, stay and fight even though there was no way he could see to win or jump down and take their chances with the vines. "Pepper, I think we're going to have to jump"

She glanced back. "On three?"

"One, two, three."

They both turned and jumped. The jump wasn't really that bad, school children had jumped from tree higher than that and landed without a scratch. Those children though hadn't landed in a mix of mud, rocks, and vines. As a result both of them received several burses; they climbed back to their feet and looked up. The wolfs were at the edge of the ravine but didn't seem to want to come down.

Tony had been wrong about the ravine; the vines hide several inches of thick mud. Almost a foot and a half deep in the middle. They stuck to the side where the mud was only three inches deep. It was incredible slick and they had trouble making any kind of headway. He put the glove away since it wasn't working and would only hinder his movements.

Pepper set her foot down and it sank into the mud then began to slide out from under her towards the center of ravine. "Whoa whoa whoa."

She pin wheeled her arms trying to keep from falling but it didn't work. When she hit the mud it seems to part under her and then cover her again. It felt like something was pulling her deeper, within a moment of falling the mud rushed over to cover her face. She was suddenly cut off from air, light, sound and Tony.

Tony turned around when he heard Pepper and saw her fall into the mud, a half formed laugh died in his throat when he saw he slip under. "Pepper? Pepper!"

There were only a few feet between where Tony was and where Pepper had disappeared but by the time he reached it and plunged his arms in he couldn't feel her. He worked his way farther out to the center of the ravine. _She shouldn't have just disappeared like that, did something grab her?_

The mud was up to his waist now, he couldn't find any trace of her but he was sure if she'd been pulled under she would have slipped this way. He tried to remember how long it had been, it felt like minutes already but he knew it couldn't have been more than a few seconds.

Pepper struggled but it was like trying to run through syrup. No matter how hard she tried to move her limbs they refused to go faster than a few centimeters a second. _No no no this can't be happening, I didn't survive super villains, perverted vines, falling out of a rail car and a pack of wolfs just to die in some mud. Oh Tony, where are you, is it really harder to save me from the mud then gangsters?_

She couldn't breathe and wasn't sure if the darkness she saw was from the mud or lack of air. She pushed her arm in the direction she thought was up but only felt more mud. It felt like it was trying to strangle her, pressing down and forcing the last air from her lungs.

Tony was still franticly searching for her as the darkness of the mud turned to the darkness of her mind and she stopped struggling against it. He looked up and down the banks in the hope that Pepper would suddenly appear somewhere but the mud was unmoving.

Then a slight shift in the middle of the ravine ten feet from him. The tips of three fingers broke the surface and brushed against the little vines. Tony moved as quickly as he could to them but even as he did they started to sink back into the wet earth.

Just as the tips disappeared Tonys hand shot under and caught her wrist so he wouldn't lose her again. His other hand went under and found her back; with a cruelly slow pace he pulled her back towards the surface.

Finally though the surface ripped apart and Pepper broke the surface. Tony used his hand to wipe the mud from her face. "Pepper, come on Pepper."

Nothing, then her eyes snapped open and she sucked in so much air Tony was sure she'd pop something. Pepper collapsed back into Tony's arms and breathed heavily as he knelt in the mud supporting her. After several minutes she finally calmed her breath. "Thanks."

They stayed like that for a few more minutes, Tony letting pepper get a little of her strength back and trying to calm his own heart down. Pepper wouldn't have minded just laying there for the rest of the day, after what had just happened being there with Tony like that was incredible comforting.

Tony surprised her when he pulled her into a tight hug. "Don't do that again."

"It wasn't something I had planned, but uh ok, I'll try."

He pulled away from her but she still rested in his arms. "Good. Come on let's get out of here."

He helped Pepper to her feet and they went back to the shore and began walking again. This time though Tony kept a tight hold on her hand to make sure she couldn't slip into the mud again. She wasn't complaining though, Pepper was glad for the extra support Tony provided because her limbs still felt shaky.

Neither one had been paying enough attention to have seen the thick vines several yards behind them fall into the mud, dead, cut from the rest of the plant by the same force that had separated Tony and Pepper from Rhodey and Gene. Or the rest of the vines under the mud float to the surface.

Since the slops were too steep to climb they just kept walking farther up the ravine. As they went a small stream of water appeared in the center of the mud and grew until they weren't walking through anything but half an inch of clear water.

Ahead of them the ravine curved slightly and they found their way blocked by a curtain of vines. Going back wasn't an option because it would have taken the rest of the day and neither wanted to risk going through the mud again.

Given, the vines weren't a very appealing alternative. Still it was their only real choice, they moved to the center of the stream where the vines were thinner and gently pushed them aside as they moved through. Peppers instinct told her to just run through them as fast as she could but Tony forced them to go slow.

The vines shifted around them like a sleeping animal but didn't attack. Then they were through and she let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. Her relief was short lived though because before they had taken five steps there was a low growl from behind them. They turned to find the pack of wolfs watching them from just beyond the curtain.

There was no pause this time, the first wolf leapt through the curtain, jaws wide. It had a look of pure hated in its eyes. Tony pulled on Peppers hand to move her behind himself. The wolf never made it to them though; as it passed through the curtain the vines suddenly contracted snapping the wolf into place. It struggled but soon the vines had wrapped it in a cocoon, its growls tuned to whimpers then stopped altogether.

Tony and Pepper took a step away from the vines, they had known the vines were dangerous but this was the first time they'd seen just how dangerous. Neither one wanted to stay there any longer and they turned their backs to the vines. Confident the wolfs wouldn't try and follow them this time.

After only a few more minutes though they came to another mass of vines. Unlike the curtain though this one was several feet thick and would have been completely impassable if it wasn't for a large gash cut right along its middle. Vines hung limp and lifeless on either side of the cut.

Neither one liked the looks of it, nor the thought something that could just tare through the vines like that was somewhere on the mountain. Still they went on going as fast as they could while still watching where they put their feet in case one or two vines were still alive. None were.

Just beyond the mass of dead vines they came to a stop. In front of them was a waterfall about fifth teen feet tall and a set of stone steps carved into the side of the ravine leading up. They paused long enough to stand under the waterfall and wash off the drying mud, epically Pepper who was still covered with the mud.

After they were relatively clean they climbed the steps and found themselves on a small path, just a few hundred yards away was the research lab. Pepper and Tony traded smiles hurried towards it along the path. When they reached the building they stopped and Tony slipped on the second glove he had in his pack in case they had to deal with any kind of security systems that needed a little extra push.

They slowly started to walk around the building looking for the entrance, but except for the windows which started on the second floor they weren't having any luck. "Come on Tony this was your dads lab, don't you know of a secret passage or something we can use?"

"Pepper, this is a lab not a, uh, well something with secret passages."

Peppers next words were cut off as she noticed a hatch in the ground particle hidden by a few large rocks. "What's this?"

As she knelt down and reached for it the ring on top suddenly started turning and it popped open. She looked at Tony who put a finger to his lips then grabbed the hatch and yanked it open holding the glove in front of himself ready to blast whatever decided to try and attack them next.

Whatever he had been expecting it wasn't Rhodey, which was who he found. "Tony? Pepper?"

"Rhodey? What are you doing down there?"

A muffled voice came from below Rhodey. "You found Stark and Potts?"

"Yea." Rhodey climbed out as Tony hid the glove in his pack again.

Gene climbed out after Rhodey and gave Pepper and Tony a quick once over. "Well it seems you two have been having fun."

"No way! Those perverted vines tried to eat both of us, so did the wolfs but later the vines ate the wolfs so that's ok I guess. But I almost drowned in the mud too! It was not fun! Well ok a little." Gene didn't miss the slight blush she had and tried to hide his own smile at their awkward state.

"Well shall we get inside and finally be done with this little trip?"

"We've been trying but we haven't been able to find the door yet."

"Well guess we all better start looking then."

As they started around the building again looking for the door Gene realized just how relieved he was that they were safe. And no matter how much he told himself it was just because they were useful to him he didn't completely believe that.

"I thought you'd looked up plans for this place, didn't they say where the door was?"

"No, it just showed where the labs were, I assumed that the doors would just be there."

They searched for several minutes without luck until Rhodey for a small panel on one of the walls. "Guys come check this out."

Tony looked at the panel; it was small with a screen and a connecter. "Ok give me a few minutes and I'll see what I can do."

Less than a minute later the wall parted along an invisible hinge. Gene ran a hand long the wall. "Impressive work Stark."

The inside of the research facility was lit by outside light like the passageway under the bridge. As soon as they were in Tony had them stop and went to another panel on the wall. It was broken open and the surrounding wall was charred. "I guess the security systems been turned off."

"Well that's luck." Rhodey said as he looked around.

"A little too lucky." Gene looked at the panel too. "It looks like someone's, slashed right through this."

Pepper touched Tonys arm. "Come on let's just hurry up and find the cure so we can get out of here."

"Ok." He lead them down a series of hallways to a large reinforced metal door which slide open with the touch of a button. Inside were several padded tables and lots of medical equipment. Tony turned on the labs computers and started to scroll through the system.

"Ok Pepper, the computer needs to get a full scan of you before we start."

"Uh ok, how do we do that?"

"Just get into the med scanner." He glanced at her and saw a blank face. "The big egg shaped thing in the corner."

"Oh ok." She went to the egg and climbed inside. It was actually pretty nice inside. The floor was as soft as a bed and she almost drifted off to sleep.

While the computer scanned Pepper, Tony brought up the inventory and searched for the cure. A moment later he slammed his hand into the desk. "NO!"

Rhodey and Gene came over. "What's wrong?"

"The cures gone, it must have been taken when they abandoned the lab." He pointed to a list of letters and numbers, the one he had highlighted, along with several others, had flashing red lights next them.

"But you can make more right?"

"I don't know Rhodey, it could take weeks and we've already taken so long. Pepper can't have more than two days."

(A/N: Hope this chapter was pretty good. Next chapter you find out many things, who has been following them, why. If nothing comes up the next chapter should be done in about a week.)


	5. System restore complete

(A/N: Sorry about the wait for this chapter, lost a week to exams and a writing contest. Then just horrible writers block. Good news though, I have the next chapter written and just need to polish it up a bit. Still not completely happy with the way this chapter turned out but I figured you'd all waited more than long enough. So review and expect the next chapter in a day or two.)

Disclaimer: if I say I do own IMAA would you believe me? I thought not.

Twisted Metal

Chapter 5: System restore complete

Tony, Rhodey and Gene looked at the screen; they had come all this way only to find the cure already taken. Gene looked closely at the identification number of the cure. CF-18H-9957G, it seemed so familiar. He looked at the backpack Pepper had grabbed back at the airstrip, it couldn't be, the idea was crazy. Then again.

He walked over and quickly shifted through its contents. The canister was still there, the identification code matched. "Stark, this what you need?"

Tony grabbed the container and looked it over. "Gene, where'd you find this?"

"It was in Potts pack, remember, she thought it might be food."

Rhodey put a hand on Tonys shoulder, "is that really it?"

"I, I think it is. The identification numbers match."

Gene raised an eyebrow, "ok so what are the chances that it would just happen to be in a pack that Potts picks up?"

Tony just shook his head. "You really don't want to know."

They were interrupted by the computers beeps. Tony sat back down just as Pepper climbed out of the eggs shaped scanner. "Hey you guys, you've got to try this thing out it's so comfy! Oh do you think it has a massage mode?"

She stopped when she saw the troubled look on Tonys face. "Something wrong? Oh its bad news isn't it?"

Tony just looked at the screen in disbelief. "No, it says your perfectly health, there's nothing wrong."

"But, you said I was sick."

"Yea, my computers said you were but now."

Rhodey shrugged. "Maybe these computers just aren't working, why don't you check again?"

"It did, three times. Everything's working fine. But that means, if everything here is working then something back at the lab, but how?"

"So wait, Potts isn't sic-." Gene collapsed to the floor, standing behind him was Whiplash.

"Hello, it's been awhile." One of his whips shot out and grabbed the container from the desk.

Tony jumped to his feet but he'd set his pack down several feet away. Rhodey knew that too and tried to distract Whiplash. "What are you doing out here, Mr. Fix finally fire you?"

"No, he just sent me to pick this up." He held up the canister.

"What does he want with it? What's going on here?"

"Still haven't figured it out? Fine its fun to gloat about how foolish you all are. Mr. Fix hacked your system when the girl fried it. Then he just played around with a few lines of code to make it look like she was sick."

"But why? Doesn't he have anything better to do then mess with us?"

"Of course he does. But you see the girl isn't the one that needs this, he does. He knew you'd go to any length to save your friend. Then he sent me along to make sure you got the cure so I could steal it. You have no idea how hard that was though. Those stupid vines almost killed all of you a dozen times. Now I can finish what they started though."

He raised his hand to strike at them when he was suddenly thrown across the room by a blast from the ironman glove. Tony smirked. "Villains, they always gloat."

Whiplash got back to his feet. "That's it I'm going to enj-."

He fell to his knees, behind him stood Pepper holding an oversized fire extinguisher. She looked madder than either Tony or Rhodey had seen her before. "You set this whole thing up. Do you have ANY! IDEA! WHAT! I went through! I was almost killed! I had to sleep outside! Wolfs chased me, wolfs! And those stupid vines!"

She brought the fire extinguisher down on his head with such force that Whiplash was pushed flat on the ground. Tony cringed, that looked more painfully then the time he'd had a building fall on him. Pepper raised it to strike again but Whiplash rolled out of the way and sprang to his feet.

One of his whips shot out and plucked the extinguisher from her hands. He wasn't paying enough attention though, one of the prongs on his whip cut into its side where it had already been weakened when Pepper had bashed it into his helmet. Just as it was over his head it exploded covering him with its chemicals, the empty haul rocketed through the ceiling and off into the building somewhere.

"Pepper Rhodey run!" They did, heading for the door. Rhodey grabbed Gene as he went, tossing him over his shoulder as he went. Whiplashs shadow appeared in the cloud of chemicals and Tony fired at it sending the villain sprawling. As soon as Pepper and Rhodey were out of the lab Tony followed hitting the button to lock the door as he went sealing Whiplash inside. He knew it wouldn't hold him for long but it might slow him down long enough for them to find something to defend themselves with.

They all ran farther into the building, trying to escape outside was out of the questions because Whiplash would catch them in minutes.

The hall curved gently ahead of them and the doors were much farther apart then they had been. They stopped at every one and tried to open them hoping to duck inside and hide but all of them were locked. The sound of whips hitting metal chased them down the hall urging them on. Again and again though the doors remained shut before them.

Finally though at the apex of the curve they found a door that was already slightly ajar. Something was jamming it but the three of them all pushed on it together and it slid open enough for them to get in, and then slowly moved back into place.

The lab they were in was a large semicircle; the door was along the curved part of the wall near several stations with computers watching them through black screens. It was very dark inside, the only light coming from the floor to ceiling windows set in the opposite wall which was covered in something leaving only a few weak beams to penetrate into the murky interior.

A loud but dulled thud signaled the Whiplash had finally gotten out. Tony Rhodey and Pepper all ducked under the desks praying he moved on. Pepper and Tony had unconsciously hidden under the same desk and he out his arm around her in a protective manner pulling her closer to himself.

They all listened, Whiplashes footsteps were getting louder but he didn't seem to be rushing and Tony wondered if he could track them somehow. His question was pretty much answered when two whips snaked their way in along the door frame and forced it open. "Should have kept running, now you're trapped."

Tony put the glove against the desk firing, the force of the laser sent the desk flying towards Whiplash. Then he sprang to his feet and spun around, firing a beam to break one of the windows and creating an escape for Rhodey and Pepper. As he completed his spin two whips wrapped around the desk and crushed it sending splinters in all directions. Another blast ripped through the splinters and pushed Whiplash back into the wall.

"Pepper Rhodey go, get Gene and run. I'll buy you some time."

"Forget it man, were not letting you take him on alone." Rhodey picked up one of the legs from the broken desk and held it like a club.

"He's right; if whiplash wants one of us he gets all of us." Pepper grabbed a desk lap.

"Oh how touching, luckily for me I want to kill all of you." His whips glowed red and left black burned trails on the floor as he walked towards them. One whip shot out and grabbed the desk leg from Rhodey, it smoldered where the whips held it in the air. The second whip grabbed the lamp from pepper and it hissed as its metal was melted.

The lamp though was still connected to some active source of power and metal of the whip created a short. The jolt of electricity wasn't enough to cause Whiplash any real harm or pain but it did startle him and distracted him for a moment.

It was in that moment that they struck. Not Tony Rhodey or Pepper but the vines. They rushed through the hole in the glass and wrapped themselves around Whiplashes arms and legs. The whips struck out at the vines severing them but more rushed to take their spot.

Tony and Pepper moved away from the current of veins farther into the room, Rhodey grabbed Gene and carried him towards the door. The vines were as thick and their arms now and they started to drag Whiplash toward the break in the glass. They were also getting thicker, pushing along the cracks in the window expanding it.

Thinner ones were flooding the lab branching off of the ones attacking Whiplash. Everything they touched they wrapped around and it was pulled towards the ever expanding hole. One found Peppers foot and with surprising strength started to pull her back.

Tony grabbed her arms and yank her free, the vines were not happy about that. More of them started to blindly feel around for their lost prey. Tony and Pepper climbed up on to one of the desks which gave a jerk when the vines found its legs and started to drag it along. Tony turned towards Rhodey. "Get Gene out of here, we'll catch up!"

"Uh Tony, how are we supposed to get out?" Pepper gestured to the floor which was now a mass of withering green vines.

"Like this." He grabbed her hand and jumped to the next desk. It was difficult going because the desks moved in a jittery motion as the vines tugged them along. On the third desk Pepper misjudged the distance and her feet landed on the edge of the desk. She began to fall backwards and if it hadn't been for Tonys hand she would have fallen into the vines.

He pulled her back upright and she ended up pressed against his chest but she didn't have time to enjoy it. They jumped to the next desk and then the next, but when they neared the edge of the vines they ran out of desks. They would have to clear them in one long jump, there was no point in thinking about it so each making sure they had a good hold on the others hand they jumped.

It was one of those moments where time seemed to slow down; Pepper looked down and saw the vines moving beneath them like a pit of vipers. She turned her head and saw Tonys serious look; a small smile crossed her face.

Tony and Pepper cleared the edge of the vines by an inch or so, they landed in a crouch and started running in case the vines decided to follow. They ran out the door and found Rhodey in the hall with Gene propped against the wall.

Rhodey noticed that they were still holding hands. They saw his look and followed it, quickly letting go of each other when they saw what he was looking at. Rhodey smiled at them. "So you guys ok?"

"Yea, were fine. I don't think Whiplash will be though." They all peeked back into the room; the vines had retreated through the hole. There was no sign of Whiplash or any of the furniture.

Tony stepped into the room. "You guys stay there, I'll be right back." He ignored their protest and carefully made his way to the hole he had blasted in the window. Beyond it was a huge domed room, completely covered in vines. They wove into a large sphere near the center; there was no sign of Whiplash.

He turned his attention to a computer secured to the wall, one of the few that hadn't been dragged out. He spent the next twenty minutes typing on it before returning to the hall. Gene had come around but still seemed a bit out of it.

Rhodey had already guessed what Tony had been doing. "So what did you find out?"

"Those vines were a weapon, they got out of control. Luckily whoever made them built in a failsafe. They can't multiply, just grow for a few months then die off. I sent most of the data from all the projects here to a secondary system I built awhile back so I can study them later. Those wolfs were a project too but it looks like they degraded back into normal animals when this place shut down. Listen, this place has explosives rigged throughout it. Once were away I'm going to set them off a level this place, I can't just leave it for Stane to use again."

Rhodey put a hand on Tonys shoulder. "Alright then, let's go so we can blow this place up and head home."

It took a little while but they finally found three ATVs, Gene who was completely alert by now gave them all a quick once over. "Looks like all three will work fine, Potts looks like you'll be sharing with Stark."

"Last one to the airstrip buys lunch when we get back." Rhodey and gene jumped on their and speed off before tony or pepper could say anything. Tony ran a hand through his hair. "Guess we better get going too."

He climbed on the last ATV and pepper got on behind him, wrapping her arms around his stomach. Tony started it and they drove after Rhodey and gene. The hanger with the ATV's were in was connected to the main road by a long tunnel. As soon as they were out in the open the wind whipped at peppers face and she pressed it into Tonys back.

It was an incredible comforting feeling having him close to her like that and she had to fight off sleep. Not the she would have minded much.

Gene and Rhodey had stopped after the second bridge to let Tony and Pepper catch up. They stopped along side of them and they all looked back at the building, all but invisible against the rocks. Tony pulled a small device from his pocket and punched in a code.

It was surprisingly quiet, the only sign that anything had happened was a cloud of dust that blew out of the lower floor, finding any crack and shooting out with a low whistle. When the dust settled the building was gone except for a few protruding structures.

Rhodey broke the silence. "Guess that's that, now like I said last one down buys lunch!" They all took off down the dirt road. Pepper absently thought that guys had some weird contests but she was to content right then to really care.

"Oh come on guys, you don't really expect me to buy lunch do you? I mean you two are the rich ones."

Gene and Tony traded smirks. "Well it was your bet Rhodey, but I'm sure we can work something out."

Neither one really planned to make Rhodey buy them all lunch but they were going to get some amusement out of it. The ride down to the landing strip had taken just over an hour and they were all climbing on board the plane. Peppers eyes were still half closed since she had fallen asleep leaning against Tonys back.

They spent most of the flight home sleeping, catching up on what they had missed while fighting their way up the mountain. Part way through the flight Pepper woke up and saw Tony sleeping a few feet away. She didn't know why but she took off her jacket and laid it on him, then curled up in the set next to him.

When they had landed Gene said he needed to catch up on some work for his father business and left them almost instantly. Tony Pepper and Rhodey went to the lab to check on the armor and so Tony could make sure that Mr. Fix hadn't left anything else in the system.

The first thing Tony checked was that the armor system had finished loading without any problems, it had and a few hours' worth of digging guarantied there were no more surprises lingering in the system. Pepper was sitting on one of the tables as he finished the last few details. "Listen Tony, I'm sorry about all this. If I hadn't damaged the computer in the first place Mr. fix wouldn't have gotten in and you wouldn't have thought I was sick and we wouldn't have had to go to that stupid lab and and."

"Whoa Pepper, calm down and breathe. It wasn't your fault. Mr. Fix damaged it when he tried to hack into it. Whiplash was just trying to hurt you by making you blame yourself."

"So, none of it was my fault?"

"Nope."

"I should have hit him harder."

"You know that was seriously amazing. You sent Whiplash to the ground; even with the armor I had trouble doing that."

"Can you imagine what I'd be able to do with my own suit? Oh you have totally got to make me one please please please!"

"Uh, we'll see." Tony had to admit the thought of Pepper with her own armor scared him.

* * *

When Pepper walked into through the front door she found her dad in the living room. She ran over and tackled him in a hug. "Dad, when did you get home? How was your mission, did you bring me anything can I go next time."

Mr. Potts pried her off of him. "I just got home an hour ago, it was fine, no I didn't and no you can't."

Pepper frowned; she'd really thought she'd get her dad to agree to let her go on his next mission that time. Her father sighed, used to his daughters tricks. "So how was your trip? How'd the debate go?"

"Huh? Oh that, it was ok but kind of boring. I don't think I'll go again."

"Shame, you really do have a talent for it. By the way nice jacket, where'd you get it?"

"Oh this, Tony got it for me awhile back, what do you think?"

"It suits you." It was true but his fatherly instincts weren't sure about Tony giving his daughter gifts, even just a jacket. He resolved to look into Tony a bit more and keep an eye on him from then on.

* * *

A large slab of ruble shifted and Whiplash crawled out of the gap. He limped away from the remains of the lab; his armor had all but collapsed in on itself. "I have the cure sir."

A broken voice came back to him. "Finally, I'm not pleased at how long you took. I'm sending a pick up for you. Did you finish them off?"

He looked back at the building, "Not exactly."

* * *

It was well after midnight when Pepper finally crashed on her bed. She was completely exhausted but after an hour of tossing and turning she still couldn't get to sleep. Finally she got up and went to her closet, she'd hung the jacket up earlier but now she took it down and went back to bed. Within minutes she was asleep holding it.

(A/N: hope you liked it, oh yea and the title of the last chapter wasn't a mistake. It was my attempt at a joke, 'can't not' was a play on that they couldn't find the cure but they had it the whole time. Yes yes bad joke I know. Review and see you all next time.)


End file.
